Sophie
It’s like I thought it would be.
Absolute silence.
Just me and my poem.
But,
as I stand onstage
preparing to start,
I realize the audience is quiet
because they want to hear me.
Silence isn’t scary.
It’s like Mr. Carey said,
silence is my chance.
And so I speak,
slowly
and clearly,
and I don’t see
the faces in front of me.
I see the images of my poem,
and I think only of what I’m saying
and how much it means to me.
My voice grows stronger
and I don’t have to struggle
to remember the words.
I know them
because I wrote them.
Copyright Credit: Steven Herrick, "Sophie" from Naked Bunyip Dancing. Copyright © 2008 by Steven Herrick. Reprinted by permission of Boyds Mills & Kane, a division of Astra Publishing House.
Source: Naked Bunyip Dancing. (Boyds Mills Press, 2008)